Shabbat Shalom!

McCain & Khalidi

Shira the Bookkeeper

John McCain has latched onto Joe the Plumber and now Tito the Builder to buttress the lies that Obama's 'spread the wealth' statement is somehow Socialist when it reality it is nothing more than a progressive tax. Sarah Palin has stated: "And Alaska we're set up, unlike other states in the union, where it's collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs." She used the word collectively and the phrase 'share the wealth'. Can I now accuse her of being a Communist since she used the word collectively? Or is she is a Socialist because she used the phrase 'share the wealth'? Share the wealth is not much different from spread the wealth.

Seventeen years ago I fled from a brutal husband. I had nothing more than an Associates Degree, a job, a car, and a child to support. I took advantage of Section 8 housing out of necessity. Doing so, I was able to save on both electricity and housing costs. I also benefited from the Earned Income Tax Credit during those early years. Now some may consider the programs I mentioned as Socialist. But the end result proves them wrong. Even though I didn't pay Federal income taxes, I was still a tax payer. I paid taxes for Social Security and Medicare. I paid state income tax and sales tax. I paid property taxes on my vehicle. I paid Federal taxes on my phone bill.

What those programs did was allow me to regroup at a time when at the end of the week I was lucky to have $2.00 left in my checking account. I did not receive aid for families with dependent children, nor did I receive food stamps or benefit from Medicare. There has only been two times in my life when I had to use food stamps. The first was when I lost my job and the second was after Hurricane Katrina.

I'm one of those who also benefited from programs set-up to help people like me to buy homes. Through FHA, I was able to purchase an affordable home and Mississippi helped with the down payment. Because of that, I now pay property taxes.

Over the years, because of the programs I benefited from, my income steadily increased and I've moved up two tax brackets since then.

If those programs had not been there, I couldn't say what would have happened to me and my son. But they were there and they are set-up to help people like me.

Obama's tax plan is similar. It seeks to help ease the tax burden on those whose taxable income is less than $250,000 move up so that in the end they can too can moan and groan about the taxes they have to pay.

Call it Socialism if you like, but it seems it is more an investment in our country's future. The more people are able to move up into the middle class, the better off our country will be. I and millions of others like me, are not looking for a handout. We're looking for a hand-up and that is what those so-called Socialist programs have done.

There's Something About Sarah

I realize McCain is the Republican nominee but more focus has been on his choice for running mate. Given the erratic behavior of McCain these past weeks, little wonder so much focus has been on Palin. McCain hasn't been himself since he began campaigning for president.

He used to speak about how he was willing to cross party lines in order to facilitate solutions. It is sad that he has decided to run a negative campaign. We now hear from his campaign phrases such as the 'real' America, 'fake' Virginia, accusations that a raise in taxes for those whose taxable income is over $250,000 is 'socialism' or 'Marxist', and lately trying to paint Obama as a radical because of his ties to Khalidi. He does this while seeming to forget that an organization he chairs gave $850,000 to Khalidi's organization. Does this make McCain an extremist? No, no more than it makes Obama an extremist for listening to Khalidi at a dinner party. You can find out more about Khalidi and Obama.

McCain's campaign has been one of instilling fear. It has waged a verbal war of words against 'elitists'. By his choice of Palin, his campaign has devolved even further.

The United States has been a leader in scientific research. And yet both Palin and Mccain deride scientific research that has been both beneficial and cost-effective.

McCain blasted research on the DNA of bears and Palin blasted research on fruit flies. McCain could perhaps be forgiven for not understanding the purpose of the research on bears, Palin blasted fruit fly research calling it a waste of money. She was in Pittsburgh when she did so and her speech also focused on the issues of disabilities and special needs. Palin's youngest child, Trig, has Down's Syndrome. Too bad she didn't know that some research done with fruit flies includes autism.

Christopher Hitchins blasts her:

With Palin, however, the contempt for science may be something a little more sinister than the bluff, empty-headed plain-man's philistinism of McCain. We never get a chance to ask her in detail about these things, but she is known to favor the teaching of creationism in schools (smuggling this crazy idea through customs in the innocent disguise of "teaching the argument," as if there was an argument), and so it is at least probable that she believes all creatures from humans to fruit flies were created just as they are now. This would make DNA or any other kind of research pointless, whether conducted in Paris or not. Projects such as sequencing the DNA of the flu virus, the better to inoculate against it, would not need to be funded. We could all expire happily in the name of God. Gov. Palin also says that she doesn't think humans are responsible for global warming; again, one would like to ask her whether, like some of her co-religionists, she is a "premillenial dispensationalist"—in other words, someone who believes that there is no point in protecting and preserving the natural world, since the end of days will soon be upon us.

Videos taken in the Assembly of God church in Wasilla, Alaska, which she used to attend, show her nodding as a preacher says that Alaska will be "one of the refuge states in the Last Days." For the uninitiated, this is a reference to a crackpot belief, widely held among those who brood on the "End Times," that some parts of the world will end at different times from others, and Alaska will be a big draw as the heavens darken on account of its wide open spaces. An article by Laurie Goodstein in the New York Times gives further gruesome details of the extreme Pentecostalism with which Palin has been associated in the past (perhaps moderating herself, at least in public, as a political career became more attractive). High points, also available on YouTube, show her being "anointed" by an African bishop who claims to cast out witches. The term used in the trade for this hysterical superstitious nonsense is "spiritual warfare," in which true Christian soldiers are trained to fight demons. Palin has spoken at "spiritual warfare" events as recently as June. And only last week the chiller from Wasilla spoke of "prayer warriors" in a radio interview with James Dobson of Focus on the Family, who said that he and his lovely wife, Shirley, had convened a prayer meeting to beseech that "God's perfect will be done on Nov. 4."

There's just something about Sarah that I cannot trust. She reminds me too much of a fundamentalist who once told me I was going to hell. Can we really afford someone like that who is just a heartbeat away from the presidency? And what does it say of McCain's judgement in selecting her?

Spreading the Wealth: Marxists!!!

Congress enacted a bailout plan a few weeks ago in order to help relieve the financial crisis occurring. Banks no longer trusted one another and didn't want to lend short-term to other banks or if they did lend to one another, the interest rates were prohibitive. So Congress, led by President Bush passed the $700 billion bailout plan, a very large redistribution of wealth.

From my understanding, the money was to help the liquidity of money the banks loan to one another. This is taxpayer money. The economy is such that banks do need to borrow short-term from one another. New details are coming out in which it seems some banks do not appear to be using the money from the bailout as intended.

Some are using the bailout money to pay stockholder dividends. Some of the troubled banks may use the bailout money to pay officers bonuses.

Clearly, we have a situation in which taxpayers money and its redistribution is not being used for the intended purposes. It appears some of the dividends in question will go to pension funds and mutual funds. In other words, our tax money earmarked for the bailout plan is clearly being used to spread the wealth. The wealth is also being spread to the executives of these troubled banks.

This time, the spreading the wealth is going upwards. His tax plan would relieve the tax burden on those whose net taxable income is less than $250,000. Since this spreading the wealth goes to those who make the least money, it is considered unfair by some and has been labeled as 'socialism' and 'Marxism'.

If Obama's tax plan and his comment about spreading the wealth is 'socialist' or 'Marxist', than clearly the bailout plan is as well. This country is just full of evil "Marxists'!!!!

Mississippi: Now Weak GOP

This was the map from Electoral.com yesterday:



This is the map today:




Two weeks ago, McCain had a 13 point lead. It is now down to 8 points.

Dancing Maniac

Maverick

Main Entry:
1mav·er·ick

Function:
noun
Etymology:
Samuel A. Maverick †1870 American pioneer who did not brand his calves
Date:
1867
1: an unbranded range animal ; especially : a motherless calf
2: an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party

John McCain was once a maverick. He was a maverick to such an extent that some conservatives, myself included, were members of a group of bloggers who wanted any Republican nominee for president other than McCain. He was seen as being to socially conservative. He bucked the party line many times. He had a chance to change the direction in which the Republican party was drifting.

He had a chance to turn the Republican party away the divisive of 'us' against 'them'. As Senator, he worked closely with Democrats and other parties. He was truly a maverick knowing full well that only by working together can things be achieved. He became very unpopular with some Republicans because of his views.

He could have chosen to be the maverick in this presidential race. Instead, he chose to ignore his on record and selected someone I find intolerable to be vice-president. Sarah Palin is to be admired for raising her family while at the same time being elected mayor of Wasilla and then becoming governor of Alaska. She is very attractive and that is part of her appeal. My problem with Sarah Palin is that she represents the many things wrong with the Republican party.

The Republican party seems to be nothing more than a rage machine. Palin, at one of rallies, speaks of little pockets of 'real' America. A McCain advisor speaks of 'fake' Virginia. In seems that those who lean liberal are not to be counted as 'real' Americans.

That in and of itself is not an American view. America is not a one-size fits all country. We are country of many different view-points. We are a nation of immigrants. I take pride in knowing that my country opened its doors so that my great-grandfather and grandfather were able to escape the tyranny of Ukraine. Like many immigrants and those born in this country, they took advantage of the great opportunities our country offers. My grandfather married a very liberal women. She worked as Adlai Stevenson's secretary. She died before World War II ended. I have her address book and it makes me proud that she worked with many committees to improve racial relations.

Palin, with her 'real' America stance implies that my grandmother was not a 'real' American. And yet, it is Americans such as my grandmother who show the true spirit of America. The idealism of all men are created equal and that all should be given the opportunity to succeed is at the heart of our country. The Statute of Liberty has inscribed on its base "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to be free,".

Palin's 'real America stance is not the only problem I have with her. She is part of the religious right. The Moral Majority and others in the Evangelical movement have been trying to foist their religious ideology on America. The latest attempt is to have Creationism, gusied now as Intelligent Design, taught in our schools. Many have castigated Obama for being a member of Reverend Wright's church. But what of the church Palin belongs too?

Back in August, the church Palin goes to invited the leader of the Jews for Jesus movement. Here is a brief excerpt of what Palin may have listened to:

Take a look at some of the sermons done by Palin's pastor. Take a look at what one of the guest speakers at her church had to say back in August:

Palin's pastor, Larry Kroon, introduced Brickner on Aug. 17, according to a transcript of the sermon on the church's website. "He's a leader of Jews for Jesus, a ministry that is out on the leading edge in a pressing, demanding area of witnessing and evangelism," Kroon said.

Brickner then explained that Jesus and his disciples were themselves Jewish. "The Jewish community, in particular, has a difficult time understanding this reality," he said.

Brickner's mission has drawn wide criticism from the organized Jewish community, and the Anti-Defamation League accused them in a report of "targeting Jews for conversion with subterfuge and deception."

Brickner also described terrorist attacks on Israelis as God's "judgment of unbelief" of Jews who haven't embraced Christianity. "Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It's very real. When [Brickner's son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can't miss it."

From the link above, you can read other sermons by Palin's pastor to get an idea of what she has been listening to.

The problem is that religion should not be tied up with politics. The United States does not have a national religion. Many say that because the majority of people who live here are Christians, we are a Christian nation. This flies in the face of our country. We are a united nation of Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, Wiccans, and many, many others.

Our greatest strength is the many different views that been integrated into our society. MccCain's campaign is run on 'us' against 'them'. McCain is no longer the maverick. He chose to go with the very tiresome and old politics of divisiveness.

Real America

Obama in Denver yesterday, 100,000+:



McCain(do not know when or where this was taken):




Photos from Fark.com

B'reishit

This past week has been one of celebration. Our congregation danced with our Torahs on Simchat Torah. We couldn't help but feel the specialness of this weeks parsha, b'reishit. It is fitting that the groundbreaking for our new shul should have been today. B'reishit tells of HaShem's Creation. We are moving forward from the devastation wrecked on our old shul by Hurricane Katrina. The forms and retaining wall have been created and the expected completion date is May 2009. We are facing a new beginning and it is one that is filled with hope.

It will be good when we can hold services in our new home.




Past Congregation President Steve Richer signs the retaining wall while being photographed by a photographer from the SunHerald. Rabbi Myrna Matsa is signing on the left.


The building committee worked long and hard. Because of their dedication, we will not have to worry about a mortgage. The new shul will be 5,100 sq ft, with plenty of room for expansion.